The 2013 Michigan volleyball season opens up this weekend (Fri-Sat., Aug. 30-31) at the Xavier Invitational in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Wolverines will face Clemson (noon) and host Xavier (7 p.m.) on Friday and face Northern Kentucky on Saturday at 1 p.m. In advance of the season opener, we asked junior setter Lexi Dannemiller five questions on preseason, having three setters on the squad and playing this weekend so close to her hometown of West Chester, Ohio.

Q: How has the preseason gone for you and the team?A: This has been probably the best preseason for me that I've been here, and same with the team. We're so much farther along than we were in the past two years. So everything has been running pretty smoothly.

Q: The Wolverines now have three setters on the rosters (Dannemiller, Carly Warner and Cindy Zhou), which is a change from your first two years. How has that changed the way practice goes for that group?
A: It's different because usually when we scrimmage we only need two setters, but (assistant coach) Erin (Virtue) has done a really good job of making sure that we're all really productive throughout the time and same with setters' practice. She's come up with ways for all of us to get as many reps as we did last year, and it's been fun to see different styles of setting. And I'm sure it's good for the hitters to be able to adjust.

Q: Looking back on the trip to South America, how much has that time helped the team chemistry?
A: The best parts of the Brazil trip were that we got a lot of experience so that's probably helped us become farther along in this preseason. Also, we bonded so well and so our chemistry right now is great, and even with the new freshmen coming in, I'd like to say we've done a good job of including them and they have such great personalities that melt with our team well. It's just really helped in all aspects.

Q: Are you excited to play someone else this week?
A: Yes, it gets competitive in here, and it will be fun to finally see some new faces.

Q: How excited are you to play so close to home this weekend? How many family members and friends will you have in the stands?
A: I'm really pumped, I know some old coaches that are still in town, but most of my friends are already at college. But tomorrow night we get to go to my favorite restaurant of all time. It's on the river and it has the best ribs in the world, so I'm just really excited to have that taste of home again."